Ok, remember how last time I went on about if nothing happened to me in a week I'd be one hell of a bore? Well, that stage is passed...I'm a bore. I've been stuck inside my house, writing my essays (Thankfully 2 of them are now done, I am pretty chuffed 'bout that) for two weeks now. I mean, I have been going to Drama Workshop of course, where they told me they wanted me in the Showcase at the end of term. You'll never guess in what...An Improv show a la 'De Lama's' or 'Whose line is it anyway'. People actually thought I was funny. (So There! I'm no longer the only one who thinks that) And I have been to see a cool play at LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts) where my flatties go to school, and also the Midsummer night's dream Drama soc production which was hilarious. However, no cool pictures, anecdotes or insights on this side of the Channel. Only the answer to my 3 hypotheses (plurality has never been my strong point, but I think that's spelled right) 1) The Irish natives, during the 16th and 17th Century, were seen by the English Colonisers as stereotypical savage Barbarians and their women were seen as loose and having a strange sexuality 2) The Viking invaders of Ireland between 795 and 900 were not as vicious and destructive as popular belief would suggest; they actually enhanced almost every aspect of Medieval Irish society 3) James Joyce isn't an Irish Revivalist at all, and his Portrait of an Artist, demonstrates an aversion, if not an escape from 19th Century Nationalism.
See...that's how boring my life is right now.
Oh, and all essays have to be printed out on paper (what age do we live in, that of the typewriter?) twofold, and handed in at the Irish office pigeon hole where we have to sign our name to make sure that we actually handed it in at that precise moment in time. This little adventure has already set me back £1.50, and will do so at least twice more because, as you might have guessed, even the printouts are much more expensive than in The Netherlands.
To top it all off, I wanted to buy a muffin in the Lib cafe. They were 1.50. Guess what I just spent that on...... So I was a few p. short. Now I think I should've been given it for free because I'm one of the library's biggest contributors, money wise and taking-out-books-that-haven't-felt-a-human-hand-for-23-years-because-nobody-wants-to-read-them-but-me-because-they're-old-but-I-like-old-books wise.
And it's raining.....
And it gets dark at 3.45
And it never really gets light because the clouds are obscuring the earth from the sun
And it never gets reeeealy cold, so you're either to warmly dressed so you sweat, or dressed way to cold so you freeze.
But I'm having fun! yes I am...*shifty eyes*
PS: cool new feature, click the post title and you'll be transported through cyberspace to a land of yummy goodness.
28 November 2007
20 November 2007
Oh, so much to tell and so little time! It’s not that I’m a very bad blogger, well, actually I am, but that’s not the point. The point is that I still don’t have internet in my room (my own choice because it’s ridicuolously expensive and the longer I wait the cheaper it becomes to hook up) and that I spent the last week locked up in my room writing essays that have to be handed in the end of November. I’ve still got loads to write and I’m being sensible and writing them at home instead of the library because there I’ll only be on MSN, Facebook and Youtube….Yes, I’m one of those slackers who consider checking their latest tagged photos more important than writing that paragraph concerning Oriental influences on Irish Colonial representation (sounds well interesting dunnit?)
Anyhoo, a good many things happened since my last update (they’d better have, if since Halloween last October nothing noteworthy happened to me I’d be a right bore).
First of all, Bart came over last weekend, we and a couple of friends had a properly good time roaming the streets of Liverpool in search of fun and ending up in a bar where some sort of little new wave electro techno band screeched out the last notes of what they called their brand new single. We had fun though, and those who are on Facebook will be able to bear witness. The other highlight of last week was Guy Fawkes Day (Remember Remember the 5th of November --Those who’ve seen V for Vendetta will know what I’m talking about, those who do not, go rent/download that film right now. If you are physically unable to do so, I’ll just copy past the accompanying link--http://www.bonfirenight.net/) which meant Bonfire night throughout England, including Liverpool. Many a little lad here in the Pool couldn’t wait till the 5th, and fireworks had been going off around here for days. But finally at 7.30, in Sefton Park (which again is an agonising 30 min from my house, everything is so far here! I miss Holland in that respect…and bikes, Oh, woe on me, how I miss my bike) a display of fireworks made the long walk and the cold worth while. Beautiful bangs and splashes all set on some cool classical music. It was really wicked and me and my friends were glad we were there to see it.
Then the week passed quietly until we went on our second International Trip to see some of England’s beautiful countryside. I’d very much enjoyed going to the Lake District so was looking forward to this new adventure. My excitement only grew when I realised that this trip was destined for the little town of Haworth, the village in which the famous Brontë sisters spent most of their lives and had written those little gems of novels that everyone knows. Wuthering Heights is thought to be set close to the Haworth Moors, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see Jane Eyre walking around those hills and sheep that lined the countryside. We got off in the centre of the town and walked the little path that Emily Brontë is said to have walked just before she died. We visited the site of their burial and the church of their father’s Parsonage. Best of all, me and Julia went to visit their house! It was incredible to be in this little cottage that housed one of the most famous literary families of England. Surrounded by trees and a gorgeous graveyard it is situated on the top of the small hill that makes up most of Haworth. For four pounds you could go inside, and of course we wouldn’t pass on such an opportunity. (Awkwardly, me and Julia were the only ones to show this sort of enthusiasm for what I think is truly important English heritage) So, there we stood, in the kitchen were Anne used to study her German, in the bedroom where Charlotte’s dress was on display and most impressing of all, in the drawing room where the three sisters not only were said to work on their writing every night, but also where Emily died on the very sofa that was still set in the right hand corner of the room. Quite an experience.
Oh, and Heathcliff was from Liverpool!
Then, as a slight anticlimax we went on to visit two museums where I managed to pet some gigantic Shire horses and got to be on a picture with a genuine Dalek.
Another anticlimax happened just a few nights back. In the UK, or at least in Liverpool, a great hoopla is made when the city turns on the Christmas Lights all over town. This is preceded by a sort of big deal with real celebrities that no-one outside has heard of (mind you, Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton (is that her name?) was there to sing a few of her new ‘hit’ singles) that get together with Santa to flick a switch. This time it took from 5 to 6 for all the artists to do their little bit and all that time me and a couple of friends were stood in the icy wind, rain and general freeziness waiting for the bloody lights to be switched on. We figured it’d be worth to wait for the actual switch on business instead of fleeing inside the nearest pub to warm up over a pint. When finally, after waiting for Santa to abseil off a building and getting stuck, they got to the actual moment that we’d all been waiting for. What we’d actually got were a few ickle little lights that flickered a little bit and some soggy fireworks that tried to make an impression while the light display dispended all over St. Georges hall (mind you, that’s a huge building) refused to turn on and left us high and dry. Or wet. Right…. We eventually managed to get home and had our tea which was a hundred time nicer than bloody Aston Road or lights on strike.
However, even though Christmas is still a long way away (whatever the window display at M&S leads us to believe) it’s getting a lot colder here in Livertown I’m very glad I bought a long warm coat before I left the continent (that’s what ‘we’ call it here) because it seems like the wind has it in for England. It’s already snowing in Newcastle and large parts of the South…and even though Liverpool is not big on the snow thing (some malarkey concerning a gulfstream) I predict a long and cold looking winter ahead of me! But at least now, after Sunday, there are pretty lights lining the streets of the city centre to brigten up these dark and gloomy days a bit. Let the Christmas shopping commence!
Anyhoo, a good many things happened since my last update (they’d better have, if since Halloween last October nothing noteworthy happened to me I’d be a right bore).
First of all, Bart came over last weekend, we and a couple of friends had a properly good time roaming the streets of Liverpool in search of fun and ending up in a bar where some sort of little new wave electro techno band screeched out the last notes of what they called their brand new single. We had fun though, and those who are on Facebook will be able to bear witness. The other highlight of last week was Guy Fawkes Day (Remember Remember the 5th of November --Those who’ve seen V for Vendetta will know what I’m talking about, those who do not, go rent/download that film right now. If you are physically unable to do so, I’ll just copy past the accompanying link--http://www.bonfirenight.net/) which meant Bonfire night throughout England, including Liverpool. Many a little lad here in the Pool couldn’t wait till the 5th, and fireworks had been going off around here for days. But finally at 7.30, in Sefton Park (which again is an agonising 30 min from my house, everything is so far here! I miss Holland in that respect…and bikes, Oh, woe on me, how I miss my bike) a display of fireworks made the long walk and the cold worth while. Beautiful bangs and splashes all set on some cool classical music. It was really wicked and me and my friends were glad we were there to see it.
Then the week passed quietly until we went on our second International Trip to see some of England’s beautiful countryside. I’d very much enjoyed going to the Lake District so was looking forward to this new adventure. My excitement only grew when I realised that this trip was destined for the little town of Haworth, the village in which the famous Brontë sisters spent most of their lives and had written those little gems of novels that everyone knows. Wuthering Heights is thought to be set close to the Haworth Moors, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see Jane Eyre walking around those hills and sheep that lined the countryside. We got off in the centre of the town and walked the little path that Emily Brontë is said to have walked just before she died. We visited the site of their burial and the church of their father’s Parsonage. Best of all, me and Julia went to visit their house! It was incredible to be in this little cottage that housed one of the most famous literary families of England. Surrounded by trees and a gorgeous graveyard it is situated on the top of the small hill that makes up most of Haworth. For four pounds you could go inside, and of course we wouldn’t pass on such an opportunity. (Awkwardly, me and Julia were the only ones to show this sort of enthusiasm for what I think is truly important English heritage) So, there we stood, in the kitchen were Anne used to study her German, in the bedroom where Charlotte’s dress was on display and most impressing of all, in the drawing room where the three sisters not only were said to work on their writing every night, but also where Emily died on the very sofa that was still set in the right hand corner of the room. Quite an experience.
Oh, and Heathcliff was from Liverpool!
Then, as a slight anticlimax we went on to visit two museums where I managed to pet some gigantic Shire horses and got to be on a picture with a genuine Dalek.
Another anticlimax happened just a few nights back. In the UK, or at least in Liverpool, a great hoopla is made when the city turns on the Christmas Lights all over town. This is preceded by a sort of big deal with real celebrities that no-one outside has heard of (mind you, Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton (is that her name?) was there to sing a few of her new ‘hit’ singles) that get together with Santa to flick a switch. This time it took from 5 to 6 for all the artists to do their little bit and all that time me and a couple of friends were stood in the icy wind, rain and general freeziness waiting for the bloody lights to be switched on. We figured it’d be worth to wait for the actual switch on business instead of fleeing inside the nearest pub to warm up over a pint. When finally, after waiting for Santa to abseil off a building and getting stuck, they got to the actual moment that we’d all been waiting for. What we’d actually got were a few ickle little lights that flickered a little bit and some soggy fireworks that tried to make an impression while the light display dispended all over St. Georges hall (mind you, that’s a huge building) refused to turn on and left us high and dry. Or wet. Right…. We eventually managed to get home and had our tea which was a hundred time nicer than bloody Aston Road or lights on strike.
However, even though Christmas is still a long way away (whatever the window display at M&S leads us to believe) it’s getting a lot colder here in Livertown I’m very glad I bought a long warm coat before I left the continent (that’s what ‘we’ call it here) because it seems like the wind has it in for England. It’s already snowing in Newcastle and large parts of the South…and even though Liverpool is not big on the snow thing (some malarkey concerning a gulfstream) I predict a long and cold looking winter ahead of me! But at least now, after Sunday, there are pretty lights lining the streets of the city centre to brigten up these dark and gloomy days a bit. Let the Christmas shopping commence!
Charlotte's hair is in the envelope, Emily's in the braid and Anne's in the brooch.
02 November 2007
Drama Soc Halloween Ghost Tour
It's been a while, but I've come bearing gifts (or at least, scary photos!)
So, the 31st of October, a big deal in the UK, it's Halloween night and get ready to dress up as your favourite comicbook character, a scary ghost or walking cucumber sandwich. I myself only underwent this ritual for the first time last year when the International Student Network organised an All Hallow's Eve for the forries in Leiden, but this time I'm being plunged in at the deep end with organising a proper Shiverpool tour through the Student Guild here in Liverpool. A 7 day rehearsal period where we set out a route through the Guild building, which is pretty big, covering the icky film cellar, deserted corridor, old library and the ancient staircase that circles all the way up into the loft. The Writing class I've been doing with the Dramas, and a very disorganises writing session left us with 7 deadly scary stories to tell during the tour. 15 of us then, on the day of truth, without any dress rehearsal, got into our last minute bought costumes, painted our faces frightningly white and bloodied up to preform, what I have to say is, one of the best pieces of scaring that went on that night. 4 tours on the hour with stories about ghosts, blood, gore and a lot of laughs in between. I myself played a corpse in the lift and the part of Snow white who suffocated in her corset on stage. I did a very convincing job dying in front of 20 tourpersons many of whom I knew personally.
It was a great success, nothing but enthusiastic responses to what we pulled off and many many people were really properly scared by what we told them. And they got a free drink at the end...what more does a student want?
Here some pictures of the night:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
